ToneDexter update

Marshall · #1 04-24-2021, 03:23 PM

I played an open mic last night at a distillery. Got a gig there out of it. 12 people signed up nice group of players across all ages.

Anyway, I played my Eastman slope dread with the cheap Sonitone pickup in it, through my ToneDexter. I use a very light amount of delay on top of that from a Boss pedal. The sound in the monitors always blows me away. I love it.

So I had 2 guys come up to me afterwards wanting to know what kind of guitar and pickup I play. They both said that was the best sounding guitar they'd ever heard; so full and solid bass to treble. I told them, "Its not the guitar pickup. it's the ToneDexter pedal that does the heavy lifting." They oggled the thing and took pictures. Asked me all sorts of questions about it. I told them they should look it up.

shufflebeat · #2 04-26-2021, 02:24 AM

It's all a bit nerdy but - nerds have feelings too. I used to sit with my mate for hours talking about the gear I'd like to have and why, nice to see those ideas come to pass.

Good post.

lppier · #3 04-26-2021, 04:32 AM

What a great endorsement! I would like to get one but I don’t think there are any Singapore dealers :/

guitaniac · #4 04-26-2021, 07:28 AM

I've pulled sonitone pickups out of several guitars. Any gizmo can can make that pickup sound good is an excellent device.

martingitdave · #5 04-26-2021, 08:13 AM

I used to play there before COVID! Nice place and people. Congrats on use of the Tonedexter!

Marshall · #6 04-26-2021, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitaniac

I've pulled sonitone pickups out of several guitars. Any gizmo can can make that pickup sound good is an excellent device.

Strangely enough, the Eastman came with the Sonitone installed. I was so happy with the outcome combined with ToneDexter, that I bought 2 more Sonitones off of AliExpress (for $14.95 each). And I installed them in 2 other guitars. That way I have wave maps for each guitar with the same pickup. I can swap programs from guitar to guitar and get an excellent sound.

The best program though is the Eastman wave map. I use that when playing the other guitars through the TD.

I've been a gear head for the last 30 years. I've tried every kind of single pickup and preamp/modeler around. (No dual source pickups). Nothing compares to the TD.

I'm pretty much a barroom singer/songwriter. Usually just rhythmic guitar work behind the vocal. But I can't stand scratchy piezos. I want the amplified guitar to sound like the cool stuff I hear when practicing at home acoustically. TD makes it happen.

Marshall · #7 04-26-2021, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lppier

What a great endorsement! I would like to get one but I don’t think there are any Singapore dealers :/

I would imagine you can order one direct from Audio Sprockets. That's what I did. (Of course I'm in the US).

ljguitar · #8 04-26-2021, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshall

…I had 2 guys come up to me afterwards wanting to know what kind of guitar and pickup I play. They both said that was the best sounding guitar they'd ever heard; so full and solid bass to treble. I told them, "Its not the guitar pickup. it's the ToneDexter pedal that does the heavy lifting." They oggled the thing and took pictures. Asked me all sorts of questions about it. I told them they should look it up.

Hi Marshall

I know mine makes me happier than I've ever been with my live sound (though the sound of my guitars with K&K Pure mini plus internal mic are great as well). My guitars now sound in the house the way they sound to me…

I've kept the other pickup/mic in all of them as backup, but the ToneDexter really gets the truest-to-me-sound from all three of my performing guitars when the PA is solid.

Thankful that James May hangs out in the group to answer questions too.

And the firmware 2.0 update (whatever the latest is in early 2021) is even better. Controlling the triggering-feedback-frequencies is vastly improved.

I'm in the process of re-recording waveforms for all 4 of my acoustic guitars.

Glad you were able to interact with people who actually listen to our instruments!!!

phcorrigan · #9 04-26-2021, 05:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lppier

What a great endorsement! I would like to get one but I don’t think there are any Singapore dealers :/

James May of Audio Sprockets frequents this forum. You might send him a private message to see if he has any Singapore dealers.

chasapple · #10 04-26-2021, 08:32 PM

What a great post. My martin 000-Jr also has the Sonitone and it cleans up beautifully with TD.

I experimented with a Fishman Matrix UST in that same guitar as an experiment, but the Sonitone actually sounded more natural to me, especially for fingerstyle play.

Marshall · #11 04-27-2021, 07:37 AM

I think I'm still on OS 1.64. I'll have to look into upgrading.

guitaniac · #12 04-27-2021, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshall

Strangely enough, the Eastman came with the Sonitone installed. I was so happy with the outcome combined with ToneDexter, that I bought 2 more Sonitones off of AliExpress (for $14.95 each). And I installed them in 2 other guitars. That way I have wave maps for each guitar with the same pickup. I can swap programs from guitar to guitar and get an excellent sound.

The best program though is the Eastman wave map. I use that when playing the other guitars through the TD.

I've been a gear head for the last 30 years. I've tried every kind of single pickup and preamp/modeler around. (No dual source pickups). Nothing compares to the TD.

I'm pretty much a barroom singer/songwriter. Usually just rhythmic guitar work behind the vocal. But I can't stand scratchy piezos. I want the amplified guitar to sound like the cool stuff I hear when practicing at home acoustically. TD makes it happen.

Its my experience that the Sonitone system doesn't have a lot of headroom and doesn't have the kind of dynamic responsiveness that the DTAR Wavelength or PUTW UST systems have. Beyond that, I think that the co-axial pickup deadens the guitar's sustain more than some other USTs. You'll notice that they just lay the co-axial UST on a flat saddle slot bottom. Ideally, you'd want to route the saddle slot bottom so that it cradles the pickup.

The #1 advantage of the Sonitone is that its very easy to install. That's probably why you find it in so many low range and mid range guitars. Its also quite rugged, so I imagine it doesn't go bad and start humming as often as the Matrix system does.

phcorrigan · #13 04-27-2021, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshall

I think I'm still on OS 1.64. I'll have to look into upgrading.

It's a simple process. You just need an SD card formatted Fat32.

Gordon Currie · #14 04-27-2021, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marshall

I think I'm still on OS 1.64. I'll have to look into upgrading.

A very worthwhile upgrade, but you'll probably want to make new wave maps to take advantage of the new feedback suppression capabilities that use the Notch knob.

They took the feedback suppression that was formerly 'baked in' to any wave map made on any channel other than 22,and made it a dynamic process.

UncleJesse · #15 05-02-2021, 01:26 PM

I'm prepping for my first tonedexter gig. I just got my TD last week and have been trying it out on a guitar with a K&K and another with a Schatten HFN. I have a third guitar getting ultratonic installed right now so I'll be fully in the James May ecosystem. Looking forward to seeing how good I can make this sound for my gig in two weeks.